Watch dial illuminating device



Jan. 30, 1962 A. BRIEN 3,018,614

WATCH DIAL ILLUMINATING DEVICE Filed Dec. 12, 1960 United States PatentO 3,018,614` Y ,v WATCH DIAL ILLUMINATING DEVICE Andre Brien, 2507 BohleSt., Montreal, Quebec, Canada Filed Dec. 12, 1960, Ser. No. 75,353 3Claims. k(Cl. 58-50) This invention relates to a watch dial illuminatingdevice and more particularly to a Watch glass having an illuminatingelement fixed into a cavity in the body of the glass in combination withcouplingmeans to a hollow container which houses a power circuit andserves as a wrist band element.

Present day watches with illuminating dials have a serious shortcoming:the glowing of the figures fades away in the dark and after a while ofstanding in the obscurity it becomes difficult, if not impossible toread the figures. In semi-darkness, the lighting power of the luminouspaint is not sufficient to overcome Whatever outside light exists soythat it becomes impossible to make any reading. With time, theilluminating paint seems to loose its emitting power and the problembecomes even more acute.

The invention proposes to solve this problem by providing positiveilluminating means for the dial of the watch whereby time may be read atwill and regardless of the darkness.

Another yobject of the invention lies in the provision of illuminatingmeans for a watch dial which is well protected against shocks and whichis sturdy in construction and not likely to break, Further, theilluminating means of the invention eliminates the glare caused by alight shining on the watch glass when projected onto it to read the timesuch as when using a light bulb set directly over the watch glass.

The inventive idea lies in the provision of a lighting element within acavity in the body of a Watch glass with lead-in wires connected to saidelement and running out to the lateral edge of said body to be joined toa power circuit which is enclosed in a container. This container is alsopart of a wrist band and has a novel tubular joint to connect thelighting element to the power circuit or unit.

A better understanding of the invention will be had by the morecomprehensive description that follows and which has reference to theannexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective elevation view of a watch embodying theilluminating means of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a view, in elevation, of a dial casing and power unitcontainer;

FIG. 3 illustrates, particularly, the electrical switch used to actuatethe illuminating means;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view, on a somewhat enlarged scale, of themeans of the invention as taken along line Ill--l of FIG. l;

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are detail views of various parts of the invention onan enlarged scale;

FIG. 8 showsa further embodiment of the invention.

The general features of the invention are Well depicted in FIG. 4,particularly. As seen, a Watch glass 1 mounted over a dial casing 3 isprovided with an illuminating element within the body of glass 1. Thiselement or filament is connected to a hollow container which houses apower unit or circuit generally denoted by numeral 7. Container 5 alsoserves as a portion of a wrist band 9 (FIG. 1); being arcuate incross-sectional shape.

The watch glass itself is shown as cup-shaped having a base portion 11and a depending skirt 13 defining a lateral edge 15. A cavity 17 iscreated within the base portion 11 of the body and preferably close tolateral edge 15' as shown in FIG. l. It is preferable, of course, thatthe cavity 17 be vacuum closed.

As aforesaid, an illuminating element or filament 19 is provided withincavity 17 and is fixed to the Wall thereof. The ends of filament 19 areconnected to two lead-in wires k2.1, 23 which travel through the baseportion 11 in the direction of lateral edge or outer surface 15 of skirt13.

Lead-in wire 23 projects freely out of the glass body 1 at the upperpart of lateral edge 15`and is provided, at its outer end, with aplug-in member 25. The other leadin wire 21 follows the contour of skirt13 and terminates at the lower part of lateral edge 15 by beingconnected to a metallic member 27 which is always kept in contact withdial casing 3 which, incidentally, is made of metal.

Plug-in member 25 is insertable into a metallic tube 29 extendingthrough the wall of container 5 and insulated therefrom by means of anouter insulating sleeve 31 which can be made of rubber or the likematerial. At the inner end of tube 29, another Wire 33 is plugged-inwhich is part of the power unit comprising two series-connectedbatteries 35 which are subsequently connected to the stationary element37 of the operating switch: the other element being slidable piston orbutton 39 which is springpressed away from element 37, although thespring is not shown here.

Container 5 being made of metal, it closes the circuit by being pressedagainst band-holding wings 41 (FIGS. 1 and 2) of metallic dial casing 3,itself in physical contact With metallic member 27 embedded in the glassbody. Thus by pressing button 39 against switch element 37, the electriccurrent is established and filament 19 lights up in cavity 17.

In the embodiment of FIG. 8, an illuminating member 19 is fixed directlyon the watch glass in inwardly open cavity 17. Member 19 may be held inthe cavity by gluing or the like.

The above description should be construed as nonlimitative examples ofthe invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A watch glass adapted to be mounted over the dia of a watchcomprising: a closed cavity in the body of said glass adjacent the edgethereof; an illuminating filament in said cavity; said filament beingfixed to the wall of said cavity and two lead-in wires separately joinedto the filament and extending within the glass body to the lateral edgethereof; one of said wires projecting freely out of said glass bodywhile the other is connected to a metallic member embedded in the edgeof the body.

2. A watch glass adapted to be mountedy over the dial of a watchcomprising: a cup-shaped body having a base portion and a skirt forminga lateral edge facing outwardly; a cavity in the base portion of saidbody closed under vacuum adjacent the lateral edge and overlying saiddial; an illuminating filament in said cavity, said filament being fixedto the wall of said cavity and two lead-in wires separately joined tothefilament and extending within the glass body to the lateral edgethereof; one of said wires projecting freely out of said glass body atthe upper part of said lateral edge and having a plug-in member at thefree end thereof, the other wire being connected to a metallic memberembedded in the lower part of the lateral edge.

3. A watch glass adapted to be mounted over the dial of a watchcomprising: a cup-shaped body having a base portion and a skirt forminga lateral edge facing outwardly; a cavity in the base portion of saidbody, closed under vacuum, adjacent the lateral edge and overlying saiddial; an illuminating filament in said cavity, said filament being fixedto the wall of said cavity and two lead-in wires separately joined tothe filament and extending to the lateral edge of said body; one of saidwires projecting freely out of said glass body at the upper part of saidlateral edge and having a plug-in member at the free end thereof, theother wire being connected to a metallic member embedded in the lowerpart of the lateral edge; in combination with a metallic casing overwhich said glass is mounted Patented Jan. 30, 1962y with said metallicmember in physical Contact with said casing; a metallic hollow containeras a part of a wrist band; an aperture through the wall of saidcontainer adjacent said glass body; an insulating sleeve fixed in saidaperture and a metal tube concentric to and joined to said insulatingsleeve inwardly thereof, said tube adapted to receive said plug-inmember at the outer end thereof; at least one battery within said hollowcontainer connected to the inner end of said tube; said metalliccontainer being in physical contact with said casing.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS WegnerDec. 15, 1959 FORETGN PATENTS Switzerland Feb. 29, 1960 France July 21,1954 France a Oct. 14, 1957 (Addition to No. 1,085,121)

